Death of a Mortal
by LediShae
Summary: First person. When facing a robot that can be repaired it is easy to forget just how fragile humans are. Yuuta, now a cop and all grown up, must ask a hard question of himself: What happens to Deckerd and the others when he dies?
1. Watashi

Chapter 1 – Watashi (I, me)

* * *

"_Yuuta!"_ Voices call out to me, beckoning me to return. So many voices I've known for so long, all standing behind me as I grew. I hear them now, in this dark nothingness that surrounds me. Slowly, something catches my attention; maybe it is my sisters coming to wake me when I have slept for too long. The thought fills me with warmth, but something feels off. No, that can't be right. I was – _pain, fear, nothingness_ – I was shot.

Now I recognize the noise that draws my attention. It is the obnoxious, constant beeping I cannot ignore. It is near and distant, like traffic through a thick window. The repetitive noise is something that seems oddly familiar, that has been there the whole time I wondered in this dark void. I wonder why I didn't notice it before. My thoughts slips away, what was I thinking again? I don't remember. What should I be thinking? It can't be important – I was shot, I remember now.

Is this my death? It is cold, my throat has closed. I cannot open my eyes and I only feel coldness about me. Is this how we die? Is this the way to the underworld where we wait before our Buddhist purification in death? I do not know, perhaps maybe I'll just spend the time before my cleansing in remembrance. Yes, that sounds good. Maybe then I can forget the cold.

"_Jeeze, what is this place?" Young Yuuta asked as he walked into the secret room found by the towering yellow robot, McCrane, behind a bio-research facility on the far outskirts of Nanamagari City. The nine-year-old boy walked between the feet of several massive robots that were his best friends and, humorously, his underlings into the dark, chilled room. There, lying in wait in a frozen capsule lay something out of history – _Gawan_ the man made dinosaur. _

_His breath misted, and shivering, he huddled into himself wishing he had more than his long yellow t-shirt and blue jeans for warmth. He wanted to stand close to his friends as he would his sisters, but he knew their metal bodies got cold faster than his did._

That experience taught me how much I hated the cold, especially if it was not winter. It's not winter, right? Could it be snowing? No – I heard cicadas when the shot hit me. Yes, it was hot out, a record breaker.

"_Yuuta!" Deckerd called looking worriedly for his 'boss', the boy who had given him his heart. The school had lined up for a fire drill, but the boy was not with his class. Worried Deckerd and Power Joe scoured the campus finding Yuuta facing an assassin bot. The boy stood unarmed in the gymnasium, tear stained and terrified yet still the boy managed to run – and survive. _

They saved me then. Why didn't they save me now?

"_An officer of the law does not cry to be saved! Yuuta! There are no tears, no whining in the force. You do what is needed, _whatever_ is needed." Sergeant Yamamoto raged as he pushed the recent high school grad through training. The boy had been given a blessing, on the job training for eight years while he finished school. Now, just graduated and facing obstacles he had never expected Yuuta found himself exhausted and alone, especially when he was scared._

I had followed my training. Others were in danger and I had to do whatever it took to keep the city safe. This time that meant using myself as bait without telling the others. Without telling the very beings that were best suited to keeping me alive. My sisters would say it was a selfless act. I'm not sure.

"_Boss!" The assorted robots of the Brave Police force stood and grinned as Yuuta entered their gargantuan sized headquarters filled with bot-sized desks and chairs. Before them stood the fully grown Yuuta, now nineteen and fresh out of basic police training. He stood taller than ever, and his new short haircut made him suddenly mature. To the last the Brave Police squad was proud of Boss._

"_You look great!" Power Joe cheered, dimming his optic roguishly and earning a self-conscious blush from the young human. Yuuta finally dropped his stiff attention stance and grinned up at his friends, his lean face dimpling with his enthusiasm. _

"_Thanks guys! My basic training is complete so I can resume taking cases with you. Now, I have my own gun and bullet proof vest." Yuuta tapped his chest proudly, letting his robot friends hear the heavy padding beneath his touch. Despite his glowing pride, Yuuta had kept quiet about his assurances to his commanders that he would never distract the robots from their duties if he could handle the situation on his own._

That worked out _great_ I got shot below the vest and in the shoulder just beside it. I know whatever happened was messy. I should have died instantly. Didn't I?

"Yuuta!" I feel pain, groggy and achy and somewhere between exhausted and sick. I hate this feeling already. My eyes, how can eyes be so heavy? When they finally crack open enough I can see my sisters leaning over me. Azuki and Kurumi have both come home. Azuki, is still glowing after her marriage to Kashiwazaki and Kurumi is dressed in a sequin encrusted dress that shines like diamonds.

I pause as I take in the flamboyant yet almost revealing dress on my middle sister. "Did I miss the release?" My voice comes out so scratchy I can barely recognize it, but my sisters, after years of raising me and seeing me half asleep have no such trouble.

"They called me just afterwards. I came straight here. Oh, Yuuta," She presses her face into her hands with new delicacy, ensuring the makeup she wears for her first movie release as the starring actress somehow manages not to smear with her tears. "What were you _thinking_!" She suddenly screeches, making my ears ring and adding to the already overwhelming num ache I feel all over.

I flinch, I had expected praise for my bravery, remorse for my selflessness, but I had never expected to get yelled at. "My job." I rasp back, and realize that I have snapped at them as their eyes blaze warningly at me. Despite facing criminals, aliens and giant monsters, I am more terrified of my sisters now than I was ever of any challenge I have faced ever before.

"No," Azuki broke in fiercely holding the wrath only eldest sisters could claim. They were scary, sisters, when they're mad. "Your job is to protect the people, stop threats that could harm them, and _to let your partners know when you're going to do something stupid!_"

I gaped; Azuki never raises her voice. She has always been accused of being too soft, and kind hearted. "But," I try to protest yet no words come out of my moving lips. I've rarely been completely speechless, but now I am. The meds I'm on are making me lightheaded, I can't breathe. Whatever this feeling is I don't like it.

Then the tears fall and for the first time in eleven years I cry. I had forgotten the stinging that comes to the eyes and the tightness in the throat that feels as if you're being suffocated. It has been so long since I last cried, more than half my lifetime ago. Now that I am bawling my eyes out like a little child I realize I had been dumb. I was told never to cry, never to beg to be saved, but I had gone against my training to always keep my partners involved and informed of my actions.

I could have spoken to Deckerd over the radio that I had a way to play the scared rabbit. I should have told my superiors I intended to use myself as bait, to have the others fire on the perps. Now, now my sisters are holding me close like when I was a kid as I sob into their shoulders. They have always been there for me. Despite being much taller than either of them they still make me feel like a child, and right now I'm grateful to be comforted so. To once more be the little brother I had to stop being when I became Boss to the Bots.

All too soon the doctors come in, overlook my tearstained face and check me over. I was lucky they say, it could have been much worse they say. Somehow the bullets had passed right through me hitting fleshy areas free of major nerves, blood vessels or arteries. I was saved from bone fragments hitting internal organs or bullet fragments piercing something vital.

"Young man, this could have been much worse," the doctor intones heavily raising his hand as I move to speak, "I do not mean you could have died. There _are_ worse things than death." He locks eyes with me and I shudder at the horrors hidden behind his eyes. Horrors tinged with regret and pity. "One of them being paralyzed completely, or losing your mental functions to be a healthy, vibrant body with a vegetative mind, or perhaps worst of all to have your perfectly functioning mind trapped in a motionless body. You are lucky, you will recover. You will need physical therapy to regain your full strength, but you will recover. You are not a robot like your unit, you cannot be replaced, piece by piece and come out whole."

I swallow thickly as he speaks, remembering all the times I had been saved, all the injuries others had taken and how easily the Brave Police were repaired when legs or internal components were damaged.  
"I know, and I am grateful."

The doctor nods, then leaves the room, leading my sisters away to speak in private. Being alone in this white room with my mind here, in the present I realize that I am scared. I want Deckerd. I want Power Joe and all the others here towering over me, letting me know with their humming electrical systems and buzzing hydraulics that they will keep me from harm.

Another thought hits me, suddenly making me chill further from merely chilled to thoroughly frozen to the pit of my soul: What will happen to the Brave Police when I die? They can be kept alive so long as their core systems remain functioning – theoretically those can even be swapped to completely different bodies, their power cores even being replaceable as long as they are on the proper support equipment during the procedure. This time I will live, but what about next time?

My mind wanders, I am tired but too afraid to let myself sleep. A year ago a fellow police recruit had been hit by a car, he had died instantly. I had been sad, then, thinking that I would never see him again. Now, though I am terrified. I could die crossing the street, going for a swim, get trampled during an earthquake or washed away by the many hurricanes and tsunami that hit Japan. When I die, what will happen to my friends? Who will step in when I am no longer there? Will they be shut down? Terminated? Will they be frozen like Gawan had been in capsules of ice? Would they be resurrected centuries in the future? Or left frozen waiting, in uncertain silence for all eternity?

The thoughts keep my mind reeling, making me tremble further while the machine next to me begins chiming in alarm as my heart races and panic makes breathing next to impossible. I ignore the machine, uncaring of its cries. It was just a machine, but my friends were living robots with only me and the Superintendent General to speak for them. _Should I die before I wake…_

The old prayer I had heard from too many American movies runs through my mind filled with a dire promise chilling me further still. Should I lie back down to sleep would I die before I wake? Suddenly dizziness envelopes me, I realize I'm gasping for air as nurses rush into the room, all speaking loudly and calling for a doctor. I want to say I'm fine, that I was just scared for a moment but I still cannot breath and the world begins to go grey. The sound of popcorn popping fills my ears and pockets of blackness fill my vision with its sound. Black popcorn that eats the world, the mental image almost makes me giggle, maybe it does –

* * *

"What happened?" Azuki asked with tear filled eyes as doctors and nurses surrounded her brother's pale, still body once more unconscious.

"He had an anxiety attack; it is common for those with such trauma to suffer shortly after regaining consciousness." Doctor Yamazuki spoke gently as he kept an eye on the siblings. "He will need to be with others more than usual, and do not leave him alone when he returns home."

"But, he doesn't live at home anymore!" Azuki sobbed, "He lives in police housing with the Brave Police."

"Then he will need to be welcomed home for a while. The police have enough to take care of without tending your brother's recovery." Warm brown eyes watched the sisters kindly, hoping he could make the mismatched pair see that this was in their little brother's best interests.

"We understand," Kurumi replied, stepping up when her elder sister began to hiccup from the worry and tears. "I will come home too, that way you will not be alone Azuki." The shorter of the sisters nodded softly as she hiccupped and wept wishing her husband was with her.

"Very well. Yuuta will need to remain here for a few more days before he can go home. His injuries did not cause an overt amount of damage, but he still is in a delicate position. Too much movement can reopen his wounds." Once more the sisters nodded then slowly left the room entrusting the doctors and medical staff with their little brother.

* * *

It's cold again. Once more the first thing I remember is Gawan, but I come back to myself more readily than when I first woke up. Now, though I wonder what had happened. I know I blacked out but I cannot remember why. I move to shrug and realize it's not a good idea as agony rips through me, making me whimper.

"Good, you are awake." A warm voice reaches my ears, I open my eyes from the pain and look at the speaker noticing my room for the first time and the older man who looks like a doctor. I want to believe that he is, but too many events with the brave police have taught me not to judge a person by their appearances.

"Yes, doctor." I reply casting my eyes over the white room with its empty white beds and white machinery lying in wait to be of use. I see the white privacy curtains and the doctor's white coat, white clipboard with white paper and suddenly wonder if I am going mad from the lack of color in the room.

"I am Doctor Yamazuki, do you know where you are? Or your name?" I look at him for a moment in utter confusion before I remember one of my training courses had mentioned memory loss when a victim suffers a traumatic experience. It is humbling to realize that in this situation I am that victim.

"Yes doctor, I am in a hospital, but I'm not sure which one. I am Officer Tomonaga Yuuta, first year graduate of the police academy, Boss of the Brave Police squad. I have two older sisters, Azuki recently was married and Kurumi just had her first movie released." I fill in with a small smile for my sisters. They are happy in their lives, and I am happy for them. I hope someday soon I will become an uncle.

"Very good, now, do you know why you are in the hospital?" Doctor Yamazuki asks me as he shines a light in my eyes that stings and makes them water. I want to blink and squirm away but it would not be polite, besides, I remind myself, he's just doing his job.

"I was doing my job stupidly." I reply with a rasping huff of exasperation for my own idiocy. "I was making myself bait to lure several criminals from a heavily populated area so my partners could focus on rescuing the civilians. It might have been a good idea but I failed to inform them and got shot – repeatedly."

"I am pleased to hear your memory is fully intact, and to know you will live to learn from your mistake. However, do not be too hard on yourself. I actually must thank you. My daughter was at the university when the Nobunaga gang attacked. She was nearly crushed by debris when they fired on the main building. If not for you and the Brave Police she would be dead."

I look at the doctor in shock, I had barely engaged the Nobunaga gang as part of the Defense Squad, and yet the doctor was thanking me – for getting shot. For a second it made no sense, but then suddenly it made perfect sense with aching clarity. I had been there, I had tried to lure the men in their giant combat suits away and maybe I had made a difference in the outcome.

Doctor Yamazuki only knows that I am a human face. I was there to see that his daughter survived the attack. Maybe that was all that anyone needed, to feel safe knowing a human who tried to help a loved one.

Humans are social creatures and for many it is hard to see the Brave Police as anything but terrifyingly massive robots with huge weapons. Others outside of the force would see the violence humans in mech suits caused and expect worse should any of the bots suffer a programming glitch. Despite the years the Brave Police had served Nanamagari City people still saw machines wielding weapons that were controlled by human police officers.

Machines have made our lives better and safer. Thanks to our machines and improving technology machines in hospitals saved lives. Machines in industry made our products cheaper and more efficient. But gangs, terrorists and others have used machines to cause crime and destruction. Sometimes it is easier to speak to someone of your own kind. This, I assume, is why Doctor Yamazuki thanks me.

"You are welcome, but it would mean a lot if Deckerd and the others could hear it from you. Would you mind talking to them as well when I am released?"

For a moment worry bordering on fear clouds the doctor's face and I am positive he will refuse.

"I – I mean no disrespect, but they look too much like the machines that nearly killed my daughter. I am not comfortable speaking to them, but Yukio is desperate to thank her saviors. If it is alright, I will bring her and we can thank them together." The doctor give a brave, wan smile to me.

I smile, and I know my eyes are shining like a little kid's. It makes me happy when my friends get the recognition they deserve. Too many have thanked the human police while shunning Deckerd and the others just because they are machines. They have hearts, just as we do and they respond to kindness similarly. I nod my thanks and the doctor can only leave the room at a fast walk, fleeing from me and the promise he just made.


	2. Watashitachi

Watashitachi (We)

* * *

I pace, back struts stiff and shoulder cables taunt as I was programmed to stand, but pacing is something Yuuta taught me when he gave me my heart. I am worried for him now, wondering if he is alright in the hospital. I want to be angry with our human commanders – _keepers_ – but I cannot. They have sealed us within our room locking us down while Boss is unwell.

I miss Yuuta, when he is here I forget that he is only human. The data never leaves my processors, but he is like us, one of the Brave Police. Superintendent General Seijima is often kind to us, he treats us like we are just others of his officers to be deployed as our skills are needed. But, I am always reminded that he is only human. He is too much like the others of their kind. Sometimes he is unconsciously cruel when using us. He sometimes seems to forget that we are not merely machines.

My processors turn back to our friend – our maker, the small, brave human who gave me my heart and through me the others as well. None of us would be what we have become if it were not for Yuuta. That thought makes me sad though, for we did not protect Yuuta when we should have. The police say Yuuta failed to follow protocol, but they created this scenario for him. Yuuta has always stepped up for us before his police training, and afterwards he began to hide his true self from us, withdrawing his kindness and far too often teary eyes to keep from being seen as weak.

The humans are unconsciously cruel to him as well as to us. And I can only hope that Yuuta knows we are concerned for him and wish we could be there for him as he has always been for us.

"Are you going to pace all day?" Power Joe asks with his brazen, confident smirk. I know he wants to stir up some trouble that mischief he tries to hide has lit his optics more than usual and I know he will only bring the human commanders down harder on us.

"It had been my objective." I reply, maintaining my formal posture as Joe's face slightly falls with my response. I look at him with concern, was Yuuta's injuries affecting Power Joe's emotion matrix more than I had realized?

"Seriously?" the yellow member of the Build Team asked weakly sagging.

"But, Yuuta's being kept from us! Don't you want to check on him? Doesn't he do that for us?" Dumpson's powerful voice rose with each word bringing him to yell, his red fists clenching around the dumbbells he kept with him at all times and his metal teeth gnashing in impotent rage at our situation.

"Yes." I reply simply, resuming my pacing that Power Joe had interrupted. I pass by the Build Team, slightly ignoring the trio as I paced. I kept my optics from landing on Drill-Boy and tried not to notice his pouting. My steps moved me past Duke and beyond Shadow Maru. All the members of my team kept watching me as I paced, each agitated and furious as I felt for being locked up like criminals for days while our Boss could be dying and thing he is alone.

"What?! Decker, he needs us." I look to the kung-fu loving yellow build bot and vent a sigh, something else Yuuta taught me long ago.

"But if we break out and go to him we will cause trouble. Will he be well enough to handle being held responsible for our actions?" My question stops Power Joe, stills Duke as he fidgets and makes Drill-Boy sag further in his seat and I silently feel remorse for their defeated expressions.

"But if we don't go to him, who will let him know we care?" Drill-Boy piped up from his chair, making us look at his bright optics and forcing us to think of Yuuta's sheepish admission of being afraid of doctors from when he was still a child.

I sighed, thoroughly defeated by my team mates' will power. "Very well, we will visit Yuuta."

"Alright!" Power Joe grinned hugely, leading us from the collected desks and chairs of our 'office' through a back way I had long forgotten about and out into the brilliant summer night. "Now we can get to the hospital and Yuuta!"

I knew I would regret this, Power Joe and Drill-Boy were far too happy and them happy together usually meant trouble. Still, I could not begrudge their happiness, especially not when I shared their excitement. Together we folded down, took on our alternate modes and raced towards the hospital, the others following right behind us making a convoy towards the hospital that defied our need for stealth in reaching Yuuta.

Still, my mind buzzed with worries. Would Yuuta be able to be repaired? Would he terminate from his injuries? I had read about human injuries once long ago when Yuuta had been sick as a child. The frailty of our Boss had terrified me then, and even more so now. Would he even survive a single gun shot? Were we racing for sorrow to find that the two shots he had taken had been too much? I wanted to quit thinking, to set my worries aside but I could only remember the image of Yuuta running from our position the armor suits chasing after him and two shots hitting him as he ran with us all too far away to reach him.

'Please, Yuuta, please be alright.' The thought lingers in my processors as we pull up to the hospital and realize that without Boss, or any of our human allies, we had no way of getting inside. I huffed, feeling stupid and defeated. Why had I thought visiting him would be easy?

"Decker?" A familiar voice piped up from in front of my hood attracting my scanners' attention. I stared through thermal scanners in silence before I finally found my voice protocols and spoke, "Azuki? I thought you would still be on your honeymoon."

The young woman smiles, her light brown hair now cut short and her face pinched with worry. "We just came from visiting Yuuta. He – he looks so frail." I open my driver's door to her, welcoming her within my frame for comfort. Her smile falters, sorrow evident in her eyes. "I was so happy when he turned fifteen and grew taller than Kurumi and me. Then he graduated high school a full year early." She swallows and I worry she might be having trouble breathing but she continues. "Then he became a police officer. We knew he would do great and for the last two years I only heard stories of how much fun Yuuta has had, your adventures together. Now this."

I remain silent as she speaks, knowing that humans tend to have the strange need to speak when worried I let her, and open my radio to the others, letting them hear her words. Around me the other bots are just as concerned and we all feel the remorse of having failed Boss. "It is my belief that he chose his course of action due to his training. Boss has pulled away from us since becoming an officer it was something that began during his final six months of training."

My words startle Azuki, her bright eyes turn dark as she slips into thoughts. I know she is thinking hard on my statement, her thumb to her lips as she strives valiantly to refrain from chewing the nail. I remember her once telling me it was a bad habit of hers and this has always amused me, until now. This time I see the habit for a sign telling of how hard this has been on her.

"That would explain his other changes." She finally replies. "During his police training he applied for room in police housing. I thought he was just reaching the age of wanting to be independent. Then he stopped coming for dinners, he said he did not need to be a burden on Kashiwazaki and me while we were deciding when to marry." I watch as she looks up to the sky through my windscreen and realize she is looking at a particular window.

"Azuki, would it be alright for me to ask a favor at this time?" I finally break the silence once I have triangulated the window she is looking at.

"Of course Decker, you have always helped us." She smiles wanly, fond memories warring with her current worries and fears.

"Thank you. I was wondering if you could go back into the hospital and let Yuuta know that we are here." I smile internally as she starts finally looking around the parking lot, spotting the others.

"Wow, you _all_ are here?" She looks to the others a smile suddenly blossoming on her face.

"Yes, Boss has always watched out for us during our repairs. It is only proper that we watch over him during his." I reply and hear the others give their assents making Azuki grin hugely at us.

"You all are the best friends Yuuta has. Thank you," She darts from my seat, darting back to the hospital. Once she enters I stand, the others transforming with me while Gun Max gets off his bike and waits for us to regain our feet.

"Glad you came?" Dumpson asks brusquely as he stands beside me. I can only nod. This was a good thing, and any punishment would be worth it. Together we head to the window and wait, watching expectantly as the dark window brightens then opens revealing Yuuta supported by two tall men in white. Azuki stands behind them, hands clasped while hope and worry mingle in her eyes.

I scan Boss worriedly taking in the bindings around his wounds and the dark circles under his eyes. Seeing him now, six days after his shooting I am amazed at how drastically he has changed. He is thinner, his body gaunt and bearing the first traces of facial hair I have ever seen on him. The image is disturbing. Once more I realize his frailty and for the first time I wonder, what would happen to us, the robots of the Brave Police, should Yuuta perish?

Several of the city and police officials felt our maintenance costs outweighed the perks of keeping us online. Civilian groups had formed protests in front of headquarters demanding we be shut down. Others wanted us to be turned into normal machines ready for use and able to be shut down when not needed. Still more felt that we brought the violent crimes to our city just because we existed our presence offering a challenge to the powerful criminals in the world.

Only Boss, Superintendent General Saejima, and Toudou-san truly stood up for us. Toudou-san was retiring soon, and Saejima-san would not be in the force for more than a couple decades. He was aging swiftly from the pressures of his work. If only Boss remained, would we be kept online? If Boss died before the others retired would the results be the same? I suppressed a shudder, grateful my thought process took milliseconds, my mouth opening to speak a mere instant after the window opened. "Boss."


	3. Isshoni

Chapter 3 – Isshouni (Together)

* * *

"Yuuta!" I start awake, unaware I had slipped into slumber as my eldest sister barges into my hospital room. I have been here for days, I have lost count of how many since I regained consciousness and soon I will be released.

"Azuki?" I sit up and attempt to stand, knees buckling from a weakness I cannot shake. "Is everything alright?" I worry, she has been here later than usual and there is no one to escort her home.

"Everything's fine, but you've got visitors," She smiles brightly, the worry that has aged her since my injuries seems to have lifted away in an instant.

"Where are they?" My voice turns raspy and my arms once more shake. I should not be this weak! Tears sting my eyes as I try once more to stand and find myself falling once more. This time I know have tried too hard, my arms give out and I begin to fall to the ground knowing that this will hurt. Only I don't land, I am lifted, strong arms on either side of me bringing me effortlessly to nearly useless legs. "What?"

My eyes land on to orderlies each dressed in pure white one on each side who serve as living crutches to help me stand.

"Officer Tomonaga, your visitors wish to speak with you now." One man spoke with a smile and mostly carried me to the window. For a second I tense with fear, they were going to throw me out the window! Then I saw them, bright optics glowing in the night and my fears vanish.

"Deckerd!" I cry out just as he says my name. Once his voice reaches my ears I feel as if I am home. I smile, words suddenly meaningless as I look at my team.

"We wanted to make sure your repairs were going well!" Drill boy finally spoke, the robots all grinning at the choice of words. The orderlies gape and scowl at the choice of words but I don't care. They, my team, know I do not like hospitals and I am afraid of needles although I will never admit it to anyone not of my team.

"They are taking very good care of me." I replied, then I felt my eyes fall with shame. "I'm sorry."

"Yuuta," Deckerd speaks gently, as he always has, "You saved many lives by luring the Nobunagas away. I am very proud to have you as our boss. Just, next time, let us know what you are planning."

I can only nod mutely wishing I was once more up on Deckerd's shoulder safe on that high perch and knowing nothing would ever touch me there. Instead I sigh, the days of me being a childish burden to my team are over.

"What did they do to you?" Duke asks bluntly, his words making my head snap up in surprise and suddenly I am staring at my team, all of them having the same knowing expression that tells me I cannot mislead them or fib my way out of this.

"I swore to my trainers that I would never cry out to be saved. I am an adult, I need to act like one." My voice hardens, and in my head I can hear them, repeatedly admonishing me for my behavior with the bots before becoming a police cadet. I had cried, whimpered, begged to be saved and pleaded to not be left behind. I was a burden to the Brave Police just as I had become a burden to my sisters.

"That was stupid." Dumpson grumbles, his snort bringing me out of my thoughts.

"What do you mean?" I look between them all confused.

"You may have asked for us to save you, but many times you saved us as well. You are not weak Yuuta, you never have been."

"Yuuta," I cringe at my sister's voice, she rarely sounds so serious and I find myself feeling like a little kid again. "You will be taking meals with Kashiwazaki and me, and that is final." I look over my shoulder and realize that my attempt to become less of a burden to others had somehow made me into a bigger one. I nod and smile gratefully then turn back to my team ready to once more become strong for them and be a better partner. Still, despite the newfound joy at knowing I will be with my team again soon, I fear. Who will take care of my team when I die? What will happen to eternal robots with the death of just one mortal?


	4. Yuuki

Chapter 4 – Yuuki (Courage)

* * *

"Yuuta," I look up from my desk perched on the chest high wrap around balcony surrounding the Brave Police headquarters where Deckerd and the robots of his team have their desks. Deckerd is standing, looking at me with a strange expression, one that has become more common these months since my return to duty.

"What is it Deckerd?" I ask brightly, knowing that something is troubling my friend, something that has been growing since I was injured.

"Why is a new unit being stationed with us?" I look to Deckerd's face watching the flexible metal bend and crease like skin as he frowns, worry lining his face despite all that he leaves unspoken.

"The Brave Police Alpha Squad is designed to protect the city alongside our unit. They will train with us, how we move, operate and being capable of acting on duty without getting under your feet." I reply easily, maybe too brightly, but I have to remain honest without divulging everything. The truth would only make the bots sad.

"I know this; the Superintendent General explained their function. Yuuta, I am asking _why_ we need a unit trained so in addition to the regular Brave Police who already function admirably beside us in the field." Deckerd scowls; he hates repeating himself, and hates it more when I force him to do it. I want to tell him, but would he understand?

"They're –" I nearly cave until the alert klaxon sounds overhead. We turn in unison, our conversation shelved as we run to the ammo lockers. We gear up swiftly and run to the staging area. The Superintended General is waiting, along with six other units plus the new Alpha Squad. All together there are thirty officers and we all know something bad is happening.

"Gentlemen," Sejima begins, "The Nobunaga Gang is returning, they are en route and will be hitting the outskirts within minutes. They killed thirty civilians and three officers their last attack, and nearly cost us a forth." Our Superintendent sets his steely brown eyes on me tinged with the familiar overprotective fierceness we all feel when any of our own is jeopardized. I want to swallow, to step back and let everyone forget that I had been the weak link. Instead I only stand firm, letting his gaze light on me then shift to the others, they know I could have died that day, know it was one of those miracles that nothing vital was hit.

"They go down this time. Dispatch is downloading your assault data to your private communicators. Gentlemen, this ends today." We turn as one, the humans racing down the many ramps to ground level while Deckerd's unit collapse down into their vehicle forms save for Gun Max riding his massive motorcycle. We regroup outside headquarters and split off into our designated teams. I ride in Deckerd as I fit the monacle-like display over my right eye. Immediately details of our opp begin to scroll down the red Plexiglas eyepiece providing a map overlay displaying each unit's position and the Nobunaga Gang approaching as little blips on our personal heads up displays.

Despite the momentary dizziness that comes with viewing the world through one interactive screen that taints the world a bloody red, the monocles have become a major factor in our response times, and have saved several lives since they were introduced the week I returned from sick leave. Now we get to finally put these to their best use, helping up protect our city and our people with all the intel we can get. As we scream down the roadway sirens blazing a small part of me does a giddy fan-boy dance for the cool tech we get to play with.

The rest of me though feels a new cold-iron weight lodged in my gut. This job is not for the faint of heart, now I finally understand what that term means. Deckerd is running for us, his engine roaring as he continues to accelerate, but I – I just sit here, reading over our data and keeping tabs on the other units. Everyone has checked in, ammo loaded, safeties have been checked and double-checked. Each unit pulls into position and still I only sit while others do everything, and a tiny traitorous bitter-bile tinged nauseated part of me just wants to stay here safe within Deckerd's cab.

I want to reach for his door handle, I want to jump out and join the others but, I can't. I look into the rearview mirror and I see pure, unbridled terror deeper than anything I have ever felt before. As a kid I nearly died on a regular basis, but back then I still thought I was invincible, safe with Deckerd. Now, I know that they were given a heart because of me. They have a mortal's heart and just like us they are fallible.

I look past the rearview mirror and see the other bots rise to their feet, leaving behind their vehicle modes. The other officers are clustered near their feet standing like tiny mice at the feet of giants. Mice. Somehow, that thought takes away the fear. We, the human police are little more than mice scurrying under the feet of mechanical giants, we may be mortal and we can be crushed without a care. But, when one falls more will rise. We are the Brave Police. We are the children of Japan. Our ancestors were not broken by the armies of the West, in the long distant days of the Empire. We will not be broken by mere gangs.

I finally sit tall, unaware until just then than I had hunched in on myself like a wounded animal. Finally, my courage rises and I know I will fight. Fear is still there lurking like the tsunami waiting to devour the shore, but I will not back down. I open the door and jog to my position near my team, my bots. This time I will not be the weak link because now, finally I know how to be strong.

* * *

He is afraid. I idle silently as fear and terror and so many human emotions I know so well play across his features. He is human, and like all of their kind, he is so fragile. I sigh internally; Yuuta gave me my heart, allowed me to pass this great gift on to others. He gave me purpose, and offered me friends beyond what he himself could offer. He overcame jealousy and insecurity to give me my friends, allies and so much fear by becoming our boss.

The injuries Yuuta suffered weigh on his mind and heart terribly. That is why he fears, such injuries are not survived by everyone, and now Yuuta realizes that he too is only mortal. That thought chills me. I am afraid to lose Yuuta, and truthfully, we all are. None of us have known a world without Boss, I nearly did and it was terrible.

I alone remember being designed as a non-sentient police android. I was a mere robot capable of aiding human handlers against criminals bearing massive arms. If not for Yuuta, I would have merely been a weapon. My debt to him is great, Power Joe and Dumpson are getting worried, Boss should have been in place six point two microns ago. Yet still he sits.

The humans are in place now, and something about how they move catches Yuuta's attention. In the instant he sees them he straightens and his normally shinning eyes that have dulled over the past weeks suddenly glow as he steps from my cab. Whatever he saw in his fellow officers was enough, now Boss is back. As Yuuta stands at the front of his unit I unfold from my car mode standing tall in my place right behind him.


End file.
